1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personal data assistants (PDAs) and, more specifically, PDAs or adapters therefor with enhanced data transmission and receiving capabilities.
2. Present State of the Art
Personal data assistants (hereinafter "PDAs") are small, substantially hand-sized computers that are used for storing, manipulating, and retrieving a defined amount of data. One example of a PDA is the PalmPilot.RTM. manufactured by 3Com. The PalmPilot.RTM. functions primarily as an electronic day planner and address recorder.
Although PDAs are increasing in popularity, they still have several shortcomings which limit their use. For example, transferring data between a PDA and a personal or network computer is accomplished by physically electrically coupling a cradle to the host computer. The PDA is then physically electrically coupled to the cradle. Software loaded in the host computer is then used to access the PDA and download or upload information therebetween. This process is somewhat time consuming and annoying when all that is wanted is to quickly download or dump information from the PDA into the computer. The problem is exacerbated when it is needed to frequently download information.
Another shortcoming of conventional PDAs is that it is difficult and time consuming to manually input data into the PDA. PDAs typically do not have a keyboard. Information is thus manually input by either using a special pen to scribe letters onto a screen or by selecting letters or numbers displayed on the screen. Such inputing of data can be extremely laborious and time consuming.